Escondido starts revising housing plan

ESCONDIDO —— Dottie Lopez recently found out exactly how vital
—— and how scarce —- affordable housing is in San Diego County.

The retired U.S. Navy parachute rigger had been living in San
Diego for several years, paying upwards of $650 a month for a
single room in a boarding house.

But in order to take care of her ailing mother, Dora, Lopez
decided earlier this year to return to North County and began
looking for an affordable, two-bedroom place in Vista, San Marcos
and other cities.

"It was getting distressing because we thought we'd never find
an apartment," said Lopez, who two weeks ago moved into an
Escondido apartment complex designated for low-income families.

With land in short supply and housing prices for owners and
renters alike soaring, Escondido is on the cusp of revising its
five-year housing plan this spring —— plans that are designed to
help people such as Lopez.

State law requires that cities adopt new housing guidelines for
their general plans every five years.

The guidelines include overall housing goals, but their main
purpose is to allocate enough land and money to create
affordable-housing options, whether through subsidized rent
programs, city and federal home loans or other means.

The idea is to bring affordable housing within reach of
households considered to be low income. In government circles, that
means households that earn less than 80 percent of the region's
median income. For a family of four, the median income is
$63,400.

Last month, the planning agency representing the county's 18
cities and its unincorporated areas divvied up the housing needs
for a growing region, including each municipality's share of
affordable housing.

The San Diego Association of Governments established that
107,300 new homes need to be built countywide, of which more than
42,000 need to be for families earning less than $54,000.

Under the countywide plan, Escondido's goal will be to create
2,437 new homes, including 965 low-income residences.

"If you're creating jobs in your city, then you need to create
housing," said Mayor Lori Pfeiler, who represents Escondido at the
association of governments. "And we have to recognize that we all
produce low-income jobs and that those workers need affordable
housing."

Escondido's housing plan, called a "housing element," passed
through the city's Planning Commission last week with little
discussion and will come before the City Council in May. A final
version must be submitted to the state by July 1.

Building more in less space

While the proposed element boasts few new components, city
housing officials have decided to tweak zoning rules for
high-density housing to establish limits for the minimum and
maximum number of units on a parcel.

Previously, developers could propose housing projects for
high-density properties with fewer than the 18 to 24 units per acre
that are typically allowed under that zoning.

The proposed housing element would require developers to include
at least 70 percent of the maximum number of units allowed. That
means a development proposed for a parcel zoned to accommodate up
to 24 units will need to have at least 17 residences.

Not that developers will likely lament the new requirement,
according to Lisa Smith, an Escondido housing planner. Nearly all
of the proposals coming across planners' desks these days have
between 80 and 90 percent of the maximum density allowed.

And higher density potentially translates into affordability,
depending on the developer's proposal. Therein, however, lies a
problem.

Most recent projects proposed in Escondido have been for
market-rate condominiums, not affordable housing.

"The city is not required to build (affordable housing), it's
just required to have the capacity," said Smith.

However, cities must always keep enough space available to build
their designated share of affordable housing.

Generally, Escondido's high-density zones are located within its
urban center, and are areas designated for revitalization, not new
development. That fact also lends itself to creating affordable
housing, when possible.

Such developments, however, typically require deep city
subsidies, about $150,000 per unit —— money that is always in short
supply, city officials say.

Often, developers eye revitalization zones for market-rate
housing. In Escondido, the city has also taken steps to invest in
such projects as Via Robles at 1565 S. Escondido Blvd., where
market-rate houses and shopkeeper units are mixed with subsidized,
affordable apartments for rent.

In 2003, the City Council contributed $7.2 million in loans to
help cover the costs of the $30 million project, built by Trinity
Housing Group and its nonprofit partner, Wakeland Housing and
Development Corp.

"(Zoning) doesn't negate high-income development," Smith said.
"It doesn't restrict them at all. And in fact, mixed-income and
mixed-use would be appropriate."

Converting renters into owners

The other change in the proposed housing element would modify
how the city deals with developers' efforts to convert rental
apartments into condominiums for sale at market prices.

Escondido officials have led the regional pack in making
market-rate homes out of existing apartments.

Since 2003, city planners have approved converting 822 apartment
units to condos, with applications pending to convert 400 more
units. The number already approved amounts to 5 percent of the
city's multifamily housing stock, and is significantly more than
neighboring cities have approved.

The high rate reflects many council members' support of using
the conversions to stoke the city's homeownership rate that, at 53
percent, is slightly behind the region's 56 percent. Both figures,
however, lag more than 10 percent behind the national rate.

But included in the new housing element is a proposal to
discourage converting older buildings that may not readily meet
current occupancy and building codes.

Moreover, because the glut of recent or proposed conversions
could ultimately lead to fewer available rental units, the housing
department is recommending the city consider relocation assistance
for tenants who don't buy their units.

That factors out to be 80 percent of all renters whose
apartments are converted, according to Joseph Scarlatti, a partner
at Westone Management Consultants who has overseen several
conversions in Escondido.

Councilman Ed Gallo, who is in favor of the conversions, said he
recognizes that, while relocating renters is not yet an issue, the
city needs to have strategies to head off any future problems.

"There comes a point in time where maybe you don't have that
ability to relocate and we want to see about making sure (displaced
renters) are looked after."

Keep on pushing

Overall, the city's housing component will continue with a
variety of city, state and federal programs designed to help low-
to moderate-income families find a decent place to live, whether
they own or rent.

One of the largest of those programs includes federal and state
loans made to first-time home buyers to help offset the costs of a
house, such as down payments.

Jerry Van Leeuwen, the city's director of housing and
neighborhood services, said that while Escondido's assistance
program has handed out loans to 527 households in the last five
years, a growing spike in home prices threatens to leave the
program struggling.

Average resale home prices in Escondido jumped from $189,000 in
2000 to $507,000 last month.

"On the one hand, your income is low enough to qualify (for city
assistance)," Van Leeuwen said of the effect the rising prices have
on first-time buyers. "But it's not high enough to qualify with a
bank (for a mortgage) because the product is so expensive."

The other focus for helping low-income families has been
increasing subsidized housing, of which the city has created 89
residences through construction and rehabilitation.

Such developments, however, require money that, as Van Leeuwen
points out, has to come out of somebody's pockets, be it the
city's, the developer's or the bank's.

And as land values rise and subsidy dollars become less
effective, Van Leeuwen said that over the next several years,
Escondido and every other area city will need to find a variety of
creative and new possibilities to house the region's poorest
residents.

"We feel successful with (existing programs)," Van Leeuwen said
of Escondido. "But I'm not sure that is necessarily a prediction of
success in the next five-year time frame."

Mixing it up

Affordable is a relative term, according to Councilman Sam
Abed.

And while Abed said that loan assistance and other current
programs need to be supported as the council is presented with
housing decisions over the next five years, it needs to focus on
helping Escondido residents at many levels.

The City Council has fiercely advocated for raising the city's
median household income of $47,000 by luring more high-tech and
professional jobs. But Abed worries that few of those workers could
afford to buy homes in the city, with the median home priced above
$500,000.

"We have to have a housing inventory and a housing base that
balances demographic and median income, and we are so far behind,"
Abed said.

Dedicating too much of the city's housing resources to
subsidized housing, Abed said, would tilt that balance, and could
stagnate the economic growth that he and his council colleagues
have so vocally supported.

Moreover, he criticized more affluent communities such as Poway
for being resistant to creating more affordable housing.

Those communities, he said, often leave low-income housing up to
Escondido, which in the 2003-04 fiscal year spent $872,000 on
housing programs, $300,000 more than any other North County
city.

"That will create a very large imbalance in the community," Abed
said of continuing that trend. "We're not against low-income
housing, but against creating an imbalance in the region."

An affordable example

For Dottie Lopez, the retired parachute rigger, a distressing
North County search for affordable housing ultimately led her to
the comforts of home.

After searching in several cities, the 50-year-old Escondido
native eventually found an apartment in the city she left nearly
three decades ago. With the help of her sister, Lopez and her
mother moved into Via Robles, the affordable-housing development on
South Escondido Boulevard.

The two pay $1,100 a month in rent, which still eats away a
considerable portion of their Social Security and disability
stipends, Lopez said.

But over the course of her two-month search, the paucity of
affordable places, especially ones that were in liveable condition,
weighed on the two women.

"All throughout the county, the places were way too high," Lopez
said. "Some places we looked at were really used up, and were the
same price."

Now, the two women call the recently minted Via Robles apartment
—— with its potpourri of fresh paint and carpet and second-story
balcony —— home.

"Once we found this place, we were very relaxed," said Lopez,
who has spent the last two weeks shopping for a bed and other
necessities. "We've been very relaxed, meeting neighbors and
learning the neighborhood. I think we got a deal here."